TREE WALK at VOLUNTEER PARK

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TREE WALK at VOLUNTEER PARK South East Loop

The Tree Walk starts in front of the Seattle Asian Art Museum inside Volunteer Park

Tree # Common name/ Botanic name

Notes

SE Loop – Starts at the southeast corner of the front of the Seattle Asian Art Museum and proceeds behind the Museum and south along 15

th Ave E turning west along E Prospect Street towards the Tower.

22 Atlas Cedar Cedrus atlantica

At the South corner of the Museum front, this tree is a match to the one at the North side of the Museum. This tree is wind pollenated and male cones release their pollen in autumn so that it falls onto the waiting female cones below.

23 Tulip Tree Liriodendron tulipifera

Sometimes called the Canoe Tree, this tree around the building on the South side of the Museum was used by native American Indians to build canoes. Leaves and flowers resemble tulip flowers.

24 Port Orford Cedar Chamaecyparis lawsoniana

At the southeast corner of the building is another native to PNW, it is also called the Lawson’s Cypress. The leaves are held in fan-shaped sprays, and it has round, bluish cones. Root disease specific to this tree can be devastating, but its cultivars are some of the most popular residential trees.

25 Giant Sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum

In the center of the lawn is one of the three Sequoia species, and this one has the largest mass of any tree. Some unusual cultivars, however, are sized to fit a residential garden and vary in color from green to bluish.

26 Coastal Redwood Sequoia sempervirens

Look across the path to the east to see this tallest tree in the world and a native to North America. It usually lives close to the coast and takes moisture from fog. Unlike its cousin, its leaves are flat and needle-like, and the cones are similar to the Giant Sequoia’s only smaller.

27 European Beech Fagus sylvatica

Also across the path to the left of the Redwood, this Beech tree has smooth gray trunks, easily defaced, and leaves whose undulating edges often have silky hairs. The prickly-husked nuts are not especially edible, but squirrels seem to like them.

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Tree # Common name/ Botanic name

Notes

28 European Birch Betula pendula

Next to the Beech, this native to Europe is the most commonly planted Birch, and is often called a Weeping Birch because it naturally assumes that posture. Note the dark triangular shapes along the lower trunk. The bark on this Birch does not peel.

29 Japanese Cedar Cryptomeria japonica

Back on the lawn, this tall tree has leaves that look like the Giant Sequoia’s, but its awl-like leaves are spirally arranged in rows pointing forward, with globular cones at the ends of the stems. There are many in the park, so look for more of these trees. Some cultivars are garden-size.

30 Chinese Yew Plum Cephalotaxus harringtonii

Just west of the Japanese Cedar near the English Holly are two short, globose Chinese Yew Plums, also called Cow’s Tail Pines. The leaves of these shrubs look like the English Yew’s, in two ranks, glossy and dark green. The fruit is plum-like in appearance.

31 English Holly Ilex aquifolium

Turning around, there is an English Holly. Leaves have both smooth and jagged margins, and this is probably a cultivar. While the berries are beautiful, this is a definite candidate for removal because it is considered invasive. Only the female plants produce berries.

32 Yellow Catalpa Catalpa ovata

Look east again across the path and near to 15th Avenue to see this smallish, tropical looking tree. It is deciduous, losing its leaves each year, with blossoms that are more yellow than other Catalpas in the species. It has large, 10-inch leaves and even larger bean-shaped seedpods.

33 Honey Locust Gleditsia triacanthos

South of the English Holly, near the west edge of the field is a Honey Locust, a good urban tree. With small leaflets (it has a compound leaf) it creates a high, light canopy and pea-like pods for fruit. Some species have thorns along their stems.

34 Black Walnut Juglans nigra

Near the Honey Locust is another native to the US. This tree emits a chemical that keeps other plants from growing well under it. It has compound leaves and flavorful nuts with hard-to-extract meats.

35 Caucasian Fir Abies nordmanniana

Continue south, and at the fork stay left of the path. Near the fork is a handsome Caucasian Fir that can grow to 200 feet in the wild. The needles are notched at the end. Note the two white lines at underside of leaf called stomatal lines, a key feature. The cones are red-brown.

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Tree # Common name/ Botanic name

Notes

36 English Yew Taxus baccata

Nearby in a group of shrubby-like trees is a wide-spreading shrub with reddish, fluted multiple trunks. This evergreen conifer has ½- to 1 ¼-inch flat, dark green needles all year. The seeds are hidden inside a red aril. The English Yew is used extensively in formal gardens and for topiary in England. It was used for longbows in England.

37 Flowering Ash Fraxinus ornus

Behind the bus stop on 15th Avenue is the largest Flowering Ash in the Park. It has smooth, gray bark and creamy white flowers in May, and is used extensively as a street tree in Victoria BC. Like other Fraxinus, its leaves are in opposite pairs, compound leaves with 2- to 4-inch ovoid leaflets. It is sometimes called the Manna Ash.

38 Yellow Birch Betula alleghaniensis

West along Prospect Street, this Yellow Birch sits off to the right. The tree displays horizontal lenticels or lines on the smooth yellow-gray bark that flakes in fine horizontal strips. A very large tree, the branches have a faint odor of wintergreen.

39 European Copper Beech Fagus sylvatica purpurea

West of the Yellow Birch walk through the trees and towards the path on the other side. Here is a cultivar of the Copper Beech. This large specimen has alternate, purple leaves with bright red splashes. Young Beeches like some shade, but a Beech forest can be a dark place.

40 Norway Maple Acer platanoides

At the park entrance is one of Seattle’s most overused street trees. Its leaves have five lobes, each with 1 to 3 teeth. The leaf stem secretes milky sap when broken. It reseeds freely and has dense shade, competing with natives, and pushing up sidewalks.

41 European Larch Larix decidua

At the base of the Tower on the southwest side, this delicate-looking tree is a deciduous conifer, losing its needles in fall, causing some people to mistake it for dying. It has straw-colored, drooping branchlets and ovoid cones.

42 White Fir Abies concolor

Beyond the Larch, this bluish Fir, native to the Rocky Mountains, has 2- to 3-inch needles that curve up and out along the stem like ribs. It has smooth grayish bark and upright cones that break away when mature leaving only the axil spike.

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Tree # Common name/ Botanic name

Notes

43 Port Orford Cedar Chamaecyparis lawsoniana

Continue along the west path around the Tower to the north corner. Here along the outside of the path, this PNW native has very blue-green foliage in sprays and round-shaped cones. Sometimes called Lawson’s Cypress, it is not a true Cedar. Like the Redcedar, it has reddish brown, stringy bark, but the bark is then divided into broad, rounded ridges.

The Tree Ambassador program empowers residents to become stewards of the urban forest and serve as resources for their local community. The program is a project of the Green Seattle Partnership, a collaboration between the City of Seattle and Forterra, and is funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry program.

Volunteer Park is centrally located on Seattle's Capitol Hill, and is the most complete and well-preserved example of the Olmsted Brothers' design approach for Seattle city parks. It is both a Seattle destination park and a neighborhood park in one of Seattle’s most prominent neighborhoods. The Tree Ambassadors are pleased to provide this guide to help visitors identify some of the many trees on this site as they enjoy this park. Find all the Seattle Tree Walks at http://www.seattle.gov/trees.